"EVERY DAY MATTERS" DRAWING CHALLENGES: I'M IN!

I love drawing and I absolutely love looking at other people's drawings, especially the illustrated journal type of work. I put the Urban Sketchers blog on the side of mine so I can track it every day. Some truly amazing stuff. The illustrated journals and Urban Sketchers are working from life, not photographs. I have been like a fly on the wall, jealously admiring this creativity. I finally decided to take the plunge. I think I can work it in because I can draw relatively quickly and I want to challenge myself to draw from life more often. I don't like that I am so dependent on photographs. I signed up for "Every Day Matters" a few days ago. If you click on the blog title, it will take you to Danny Gregory's blog page. He is the fabulous artist who started Every day Matters. He has some wonderful books that are so encouraging and motivational. Today, I went to the bookstore and bought a small 5" x 7" sketch book that can take watercolor and a Moleskin Watercolor Book also 5" x 7". The first book is for the challenges that Danny Gregory has started. They are up to 197!! I figure I can catch up eventually because they post a new challenge each week. I can do several a day. It's not a race, anyway. I did three today and had so much fun. I am going to make them as detailed and intricate as I can, just for my amusement. I picked my favorite pair of shoes (visually...no, not my Crocs!) and found an interesting lamp that got cut off at the knees and neck! because I need to improve my skills at estimating distance and size. I decided to do my Laurel Burch tote bag because of the wonderful designs and used some watercolor to jazz it up. Anyway, there is a list of all 197 challenges which I printed out. Tomorrow I will be sitting at the Rose Shenson Gallery at the Triton Museum for the SCVWS show so I will get a few more drawings in. I posted the cute little purse size watercolor set I put together. The metal container is palm size and holds 12 colors. I used Stephen Quiller's suggested colors and put the compliments across from each other. I marked the names of the colors in the space for the little brush. The Koi water brush comes apart and fits perfectly in these little set ups. Not of caution: Maimeri watercolors don't seem to dry very much...same for Graham (which are made with honey). I hope I don't have a runny mess problem as I used 3 Maimeri colors.

The Moleskin Sketch Book will be used for Urban, Suburban, et all sketching from life. Tomorrow I will break it in!

WATERCOLOR TRAVEL KIT SET UP

Here are some photos of my drawing and painting kit that I take with me when I travel. One could have it with them at all times because of its' size but I save it for when I am on the road. Please note that my hand is not that fat!!! It is the camera angle. I wanted to show the size in relation to my hand. Hotels have miniature bottles of shampoo, mouthwash etc. for the guests. I use such a bottle cleaned out as a small water container. It fits in the kit nicely and doesn't leak. I have several Elegant Writer Pens in this kit, two regular travel brushes, one brush that holds water in the handle and a small mechanical pencil as well as a pen with permanent ink. A purse size packet of tissues complete the set.